With a record breaking 20.5 million people in the United States involved in direct sales in 2016, chances are that you’ve probably been targeted a time or two by a well-meaning Facebook friend who tried to sell you a so-called life changing product from a multi-level marketing company they represent.

There’s a lot of gray area surrounding specialties for nurse practitioners. Unlike physicians, who study very specific areas of medicine, as NPs our specialties are pretty general. ‘Acute Care’ and ‘Family’ are about as specific as it gets for us in most educational institutions. Instead, we hone our areas in practice on the job with training from an employer.

A nurse practitioner I spoke with recently had a question about her NPI number. So, she searched online for her name + NPI. She was appalled to find that her personal address and cell phone were listed, plainly visible and available to the public, along with her NPI number and license numbers.

Welcoming a new member to your family is an exciting time! Unfortunately, I see all too often how excitement gives way to anxiety as moms and dads to be begin to worry about returning to work after baby. Once the daycare arrangements are made and a copy of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” lands soundly on the nightstand, the next call is to me – “What maternity leave am I entitled to?

Thanks to the predicted surge in the number of medical offices and outpatient care facilities, technological advancements and the growing number of elderly Americans in need of medical treatment, the medical assistant profession is growing much faster than the average for all occupations according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. For nurse practitioners, properly utilizing medical assistants in your clinical setting can certainly make your day run much more efficiently. While these healthcare workers are quite versatile, misunderstanding their role and what can be delegated to them may cause you to violate your state’s rules and regulations.

As a nurse practitioner, I've long fantasized about taking my career somewhere warm and sunny, or just plain different. NPs enjoy the flexibility to practice all over our country and its territories. Some of these locations prove much friendlier than others when it comes to the logistics of employment. Guam has just joined the group of locations that rank most favorable for NPs.

Have you ever texted about a patient? In the emergency department where I work, texting can be an easy way to consult with a specialist or send an image of a patient's X-ray, lab results or even chief complaint. But, is this legal? What are the implications of texting about patient care?

We've all experienced the awkwardness of clinical learning as nurse practitioner students. Mastering the skill set required to work as an NP means practicing on real, live patients even before you are considered proficient at that skill. Anxious, you stutter and sweat as you explain the procedure to the patient, the more experienced eye (hopefully!) of your preceptor looking over your shoulder.

Nurse practitioners are newly allowed to prescribe buprenorphine (Suboxone) as part of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act signed into law by former President Obama. While the Act augments nurse practitioners' scope of practice from a federal standpoint, some states are more limiting in the freedoms they allow NPs. In which states can nurse practitioners actually prescribe Suboxone?

I've had several nurse practitioners tell me they will only work in independent practice states. That is, states whose scope of practice laws don't require nurse practitioners to be supervised by or collaborate with a physician. While I understand the position of these NPs, they are capable of treating patients without oversight, I have to wonder - does working in an independent practice state actually change what a nurse practitioner's day-to-day job looks like?

While thinking about the legal implications of our work as nurse practitioners isn't always enjoyable, it is a necessary part of our profession. From scope of practice to employment issues and medical malpractice, there are a number of ways the law factors in to our careers. Legal reads are pretty popular here at MidlevelU. Here are the top picks this year.

With over a hundred national nursing associations and boards of nursing throughout the country, it can be a little confusing at times to decipher the difference between the two, especially as they both have significant impacts on the nurse practitioner profession and scope of practice.To put it very simply, Boards of Nursing regulate nursing practice to protect the public. Associations advocate for nurses and the advancement of the profession.